Working families across America already know that the tax system is rigged in favor of the wealthy and large corporations. Despite his “America First” campaign rhetoric, President Trump and Republican lawmakers are pushing a tax scheme that puts hardworking Americans last and will undermine jobs for low- and middle-income families. Here are the three most egregious ways the Trump–Republican tax scheme puts working families last:
1. Wealthy foreign investors get a huge tax cut in 2027 while the bottom 60 percent of American families get a tax hike.
Economists estimate that wealthy foreign investors will get as much as $700 BILLION from the Trump-Republican tax scheme over the next 10 years. That’s money that won’t be available to invest in education, health care, and infrastructure that promote thriving communities throughout the country. What’s worse is that in 2027, under the Senate proposal wealthy foreign investors get more in tax cuts than any other income group while the bottom 60 percent of American’s get a tax hike.
2. Windfall profits for large corporations won’t help workers and may actually cost jobs.
The Trump-Republican tax scheme prioritizes huge tax cuts for large corporations that will filter through to CEOs and shareholders instead of workers. In 2004 when large corporations benefited from similar policies, the 15 corporations benefitting the most cut almost 21,000 jobs while increasing executive pay by almost 30 percent. The tax bill also dramatically lowers tax rates for overseas profits, incentivizing corporations to send jobs out of the country where they can pay lower tax rates on their profits.
3. Millions would lose health coverage and health coverage premiums would soar to pay for more tax breaks for profitable corporations.
The tax bill would repeal an important provision of our health care laws that helps stabilize the health care market by requiring everyone to purchase health coverage. This change would ultimately increase taxes on low income families, increase health insurance premiums for everyone, destabilize the health care market, and lead to millions of people nationwide losing health coverage. In Maine, premiums could rise as much as $3,000 per year in rural areas and 50,000 people would lose health coverage under this proposed change.
The Trump-Republican scheme bill is a bad deal for working Mainers. The tax legislation will cost $1.5 trillion over the next ten years and is a huge missed opportunity to invest those resources in middle-class boosting efforts like improving health care affordability, tackling student debt, and creating more good paying jobs that can sustain families. Instead, the Trump-Republican tax bill is an enormous giveaway to millionaires, billionaires, and profitable corporations and will endanger the long-term stability of foundational investments that strengthen the middle class, like Medicare, Medicaid, and education funding.
